


Tidal

by little_abyss



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adoribull Prompt Sunday, Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Helpful Cole (Dragon Age), M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 04:40:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5078173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_abyss/pseuds/little_abyss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Adoribull Prompt Sunday, from this anonymous prompt:  "dorian dies and iron bull is back at skyhold or something or is away (basically he's not there when it happens) and cole starts telling him dorian's last thoughts?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tidal

“... nothing to me, until... my everything.”  It’s just a whisper, there in the dark.  The Iron Bull opens his eyes, wondering if this crushing feeling in his chest is just part of the dream that had whispered those words to him.  He fills his lungs with air, chest expanding under the blankets.  The room is black, the night swollen, bleak around him.  “Hard to breathe now,” comes the voice again, and Bull is up, muscles tensed, groping for his ax, eyes shifting around the small room, trying to find a patch of blackness which would indicate where the intruder is standing.  “Hard to breathe and so much to say, so much left unsaid.”  Bull frowns, his mind coming out the sleep-warped self and into a realm where he registers who it is - Cole.  The spirit-boy is here, in his room, so late at night it is really early morning.  “Cole,” he murmurs, “What is it?”

 

“He’s going, The Iron Bull.  Drowning in himself, the blood bubbling from lips that kissed and smiled.  I can feel him, he doesn’t want to, but the sun is setting over the water, and I can’t change that.  I can’t change it, he’s calling out to you, stretching out his hand one last time.  Will you let me help him?”

 

Bull holds his breath.  Dorian.  His mind whirls, reeling, images crashing in upon themselves as he hesitates.  Finally, when his lungs are almost hurting, he gasps, “Yes.  If he wants me to.  I’ll hear it.”

Cole speaks immediately, from somewhere near the door. “That time, that time in the Graves, underwater.  You held him close while he fell apart, and he never looked back.  White, it’s all white, under the water, kissing me, the lake weed soft on feet and legs, arms strong, grey and brown together, I never wanted it.  Never, never wanting, only needing.  Oh… oh it… hurts, full lungs, heart, my heart...”

 

Bull cannot help it, he gasps, and his eyes fill with tears.  “It’s hurting you, The Iron Bull, it feels like both your hearts are breaking, he’s reaching, slipping further, never wanting, only needing, hitching breath, grey eyes closed.  He hears the Inquisitor calling, but he’s reaching out for you.  He sees Felix, Felix’s smile, and he’s relieved, there in the white, he fights, but not for much longer.  He held his breath with you, that first time you said the words, the first time he knew he felt the same.  He never wanted to breathe again, in case it was all a dream and breathing would mean waking.  So beautiful, so gradual, like the slip of tide over the sand, he hurts, oh, Bull… Bull, it hurts.  The waves are rising, the white is gathering, but one last time, one last time, amatus, hold his hand so I can feel you one last time.”  

  
Cole approaches where Bull is sitting in the bed.  He holds out his hand, and seems… somehow taller, more substantial there in the dark than he ever had before.  Bull takes his hand, and moans, breath short in his lungs.  Cole’s hand is warm, the grip so familiar that Bull cannot believe it, cannot believe that this is the last time.  “Te amo,” Cole whispers, but it is not Cole’s voice, it is a voice long treasured, one that will speak no more.  “Te amo, amatus.  Te maneo, sub aqua.”

**Author's Note:**

> The bastardised Latin/Tevene at the end means: 'I love you. I'll wait for you, under the water'.


End file.
